Consequently, I never got to taste what was listed as ``delicious ostrich soup'' on the menu of Chef's Express, a new, order-at-the-counter fast-food spot in Studio City.

Perhaps I'm lucky.

But I did get to taste the ostrich steak dinner ($10.95), one of four ostrich items available at this interesting food outlet.

And truthfully, the lean, marinated version was as good or better than much of the beef I've eaten lately.

First of all, it seemed to have retained enough moisture even though it was fairly well cooked.

And there were strong inklings of red-meaty flavor there, too, despite the obvious fact that ostrich is a bird.

But the vegetables, a mixture of mostly green beans with some peas and corn - a sort of succotash, I guess - were tasteless, almost completely void of any flavor.

However, steamed, seemingly fresher, vegetables on another night, served with prime rib ($9.25), denoted a vast improvement both in taste and texture.

Yet on two occasions the smallish foil-wrapped baked potato included with both the prime rib and ostrich meals was, at best, merely passable.

And soups here have definitely been odd.

One was a turkey rice recipe that had been thickened so much - probably by cornstarch - it seemed almost gelatinous.

Another was called simply vegetable soup. It left the distinct impression of combining a watery bouillon-cubelike broth with a scant scattering of cut-up veggies.

Even with the menu ups and downs, the prices of the Chef's Express dishes are difficult to resist.

In fact, the prime rib appeared to be an astounding bargain.

Unfortunately, at least a third of the medium thick slice was fat. Again ironically, the remainder of the serving actually matched in quality some of the town's better slabs of the same cut of beef, especially when doused with the accompanying ``au jus.''

Back to our feathered friends.

Turkey comes from freshly roasted birds and the sliced meat looks quite attractive on the open face sandwich ($6.50) with mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy.

But both the gravy and the stuffing had an institutional taste and texture.

Ostrich is available in stir-fried strips with bell peppers, mushrooms and broccoli or with similar strips atop salad.